Photo of a Dead Man
by melli-elle
Summary: It all started with a photo, and Yanagi will start it... but who will finish it? Shounen-ai, T for now, may change the Rating later depending how I want this story to go.
1. Kaido

Photo of a Dead Man

"Nii-san? Nii-san?" came Kaido Kaoru's younger brother's voice through his bedroom door, and the boy in question looked questioningly at the door, frowning some. His brother didn't normally interrupt him till dinner was ready, and that shouldn't have been for another half an hour, especially as they knew how much homework he had at the moment...

"Come in, Kasu..." Kaido called out, and his younger brother, who some would call a carbon copy of himself walked in, something clapsed in his hand. It took Kaido a minute to realise that it was an envelope.

"This came in the mail for you today..." Kasu whispered, his head bowed a little as he held out the envelope, Kaido taking it from him.

"Who's it from?" he asked, turning it over to see a return address from somewhere in Kanagawa...

Kaido frowned, there were only a few people he knew in Kanagawa, and they were all ominous people to be recieving letters from.

"It feels like a photo..." Kasu replied with, and Kaido frowned, because yes, indeed, it did feel like a photo. Opening the envelope carefully, inside he found a photo as well as a short note. Picking up the photo up, he gazed at it for a second, before frowning as the note slipped out of his hand.

"I'm going to kill him."

As his brother stormed out of the house, the photo still in his hand, Kasu bent down to pick up the note, and frowned at the writing.

"What's that mean? 'Happy Birthday?' Aniki's birthday was ages ago..."

A/N: So, after reading a rather wonderfully amazing Data Pair story, I felt like re-itterating my very old one-shot of them that appeared in the series of one shots 'Happy Birthday'. So this story, while probably going to be short, will be a carry on from that. So if you haven't read the Data Pair chapter from Happy Birthday, I suggest you go read it, it might make reading this a bit more helpful.


	2. Inui

Photo of a Dead Man

Inui Sadaharu's homework wasn't swamped. It was hard to be swamped when you did it all on your school break... When you weren't collecting the data of different Inui juices, and opposing Tennis teams, or even your own team... Inui looked tenderly at his floor to ceiling bookshelf, filled with black notebooks, all headed with dates and names and places in white stickers on the side of the books.

So when there was a knock on the door, the only thing that anyone was interupting was Inui hacking... emailing... talking to people online, and he knew it wasn't important enough to not be interrupted.

"Enter," Inui yelled out crisp and shortly, because he knew it had to be his mother at the door.

"Sadaharu, one of your team mates is in the loungeroom. Shall I send him up?" The grimace on his mother's face showed her hatred that her only son played tennis. And not only did he played tennis, he played tennis with several openly gay teenage boys, which threw her very sensible ideas out the window. His own sexuality, somewhere in between gay and asexual, was quite often over-looked, and she often brought girls home for him, only for them to be ignored.

"Which one is it, mother?" Inui questioned, even as he stood up. His mother wouldn't appreciate having to speak with one of his team, especially if it was someone like Fuji or Kikumaru.

"The sensible one, you know I don't know names... but not the captain or vice captain..."

Inui nodded, if it wasn't Tezuka or Oishi, sensible left Kaido. Frowning a little, he left the confines of his bedroom and headed to the stairs, wondering a bit why his kouhai and doubles partner was there in his living room. Kaido knew better then the rest of the team about Inui's mother's issues, and being who he was to Inui, while un-known to his mother, it would affect him that Inui's mother didn't approve.

As Kaido's face came into veiw, immediately Inui knew something had put his boyfriend off his hindges. The normal scowl that marred his face was replaced with a full out glare, his hands clenched, one of them around what looked to be a scrunched photo. His stance, instead of the normal tall standing of a short man, was hunched, and obviously afraid of what his anger might enrage.

Inui looked at the puzzle that stood in front of him, and he knew he had only seconds to figure it out and come up with a counter-act. Ok, clue number one, this obviously had to do with the photo. This had to be a new photo, because Kaido had been fine when they'd left training. So if he'd gotten it after he left training, there was a 72% chance that he got it while he was at home. If it had been a photo given to him by a parent or his brother that had had a bad affect, he would be frowning, not glaring at Inui so pointedly. A photo he'd gotten at home that had come in the mail.

It clicked after that. A photo, so bad that would have Kaido making such an aweful face on his usually sensually hard face, that had come in the mail. Anyone who lived nearby wouldn't know where Kaido lived, and would have simply delivered it to the school, so it had to be someone who lived some distance away... And since it had to be a photo of something incriminating Inui... That left only one option...

The distinctive click of a camera at his last meeting with Yanagi Renji on their birthday hadn't been his imagination.

"Kaoru..."

"Shutup and explain."

Yep, definetely not his imagination...

Inui lead his kouhai upstairs and into his room, a chair specifically placed in case of visitors, since Inui's bed was placed to be used as a chair at his computer. He thought it would be best to bring Kaido up here, as he was sure this was a conversation his mother didn't want to hear.

His mother had learnt long ago to soundproof Inui's bedroom.

"Explain," the younger repeated, slamming the photo down on the desk. It was very well taken... You couldn't tell the photographer had been hiding in a bush at all. Inui calculated the chances of it being Niou Masaharu having taken the photo, as his stalking skills were well known, nearlly as great as that of Inui and Yanagi, though Niou's skills used for blackmail instead of Data.

The photo itself showed two men kissing, the shorter of the two seemingly surprised, though one shouldn't have been able to tell with his eyes shut the way they were. But Inui could tell, and even to the stupidest person you could tell the taller, glasses wearing of the two had been the one to initiate the kiss.

And Kaido wasn't the stupidest person around.

"Kaoru..."

"When you first asked me if I would like to 'further our relationship past friendship' as you put it, when I finally got what on earth you were asking me, I asked you a very simple question. It was an easy one, not hard. All you had to do was tell me whether or not you had ever been involved with Yanagi Renji."

"I hadn't..."

"And you told me, quite plainly, that you and 'Renji' had a history, but it was as friends and competitors, not as lovers..."

"We were young..."

"And I stupidly believed you. How long." Kaido slammed his hand on top of the photo, scrunching it further. "How long have you been lieing to me?"

"I've never lied," Inui replied plainly, sighing a little. It wasn't a lie, he never lied. That kiss had been the first, and Kaido had stopped questioning his monthly meetings with Yanagi a year ago...

"THEN WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS?" the younger boy held up the photo, and Inui was hurt to see the tears that were forming in his boyfriends eyes. It had been a time of un-planned, aggressive self-need, and Inui had regretted it after.

He'd especially regretted the vanilla taste on his lips that had sat there the rest of the night..

But thinking about Yanagi's scent was not where his mind needed to be right now, he told himself, as he looked Kaido straight in the eye, knowing he had to make him believe him. "Kaido Kaoru, at the last monthly meeting between myself and Yanagi Renji, in a moment of oversight, I was provoked into kissing him. I have never before that moment felt any such feelings for my best friend, and if I had I would have worded them to you when you asked. As it is... I will not lie to you and tell you I felt nothing, but it was nothing compared to the feeling I feel when we kiss."

Inui knew Kaido wasn't hearing a word of it. The look on his face grew darker as Inui talked, and nothing he was saying was helping his case.

As he finished his speech, Kaido just shook his head, and held up the photo, before throwing it to the floor and storming out, calling out behind him.

"I hope you two will be very happy."

A/N Since I never really seem to get around to finishing my stories, I'm going to write a few chapters of this story before I even think about publishing them.


	3. Renji

Photo of a Dead Man

Pacing was detrimentle. He knew this. In fact, he knew this terribly well. If there was one thing he knew in this world, and all his other worldly knowledge left him, it would be that pacing did not achieve anything. Knowledge and acting on said knowledge achieved things.

Certainly not pacing.

Yet in his room he paced, because Yanagi Renji was frustrated. It wasn't often that he allowed himself to be frustrated, yet he knew he was lead by a few more emotions then... well, others. He'd calculated down to the exact second that which the missile he'd thrown at the enemy would strike, and then again to the exact second news would reach the commander.

That time was about ten minutes ago. The enemy should of left by now... Where was his call...

But instead of the buzzing of his phone, he heard the shrill sound of his doorbell, and frowned at the noise, but quickly perked up. The un-prectibleness of visitors such as this was a fun and interesting way to pass the time while he waited for his phone to ring.

"Renji, can you get that, I'm on the phone!" came the annoying voice of his younger sister, useless as Yanagi had already began his way to the front door, opening it and smiling a little at the faces he'd expected to see there.

"Puri, data-master, let is in, it's boiling out there..." Came the first, the white-haired Niou Masaharu pushing his way past Yanagi, looking around the front room and heading further into the house.

The pop of the bubble assuered the identity of his second visitor. "Hey, Renji, aren't you glad Mura-buchou cancelled practice today..." The bubbly Marui Bunta followed Niou, kicking his shoes off before yelling out to Niou to do the same, before getting two shoes thrown at his head.

"We'll find out if it worked today, right sempai?" came the third and last visitor's voice, causing Renji's smile to broaden down at his Kouhai, Kirihara Akaya.

"Yes, Akaya, today we find out if it worked."

Into the house he returned, the cool air replacing the heat from outside, and instructing Kirihara to shut the door behind him as they made their way through the house to Yanagi's room, where Marui and Niou had already stretched out on Yanagi's bed, Marui sprawled across Niou's lap while Niou stroked the bright red hair ontop his head, both just enjoying being inside out of the heat.

"Bunch up, sempai!" Kirihara yelled, jumping on the bed, causing both the trickster and tensai to yell at their kouhai, Yanagi watching tenderly as the three fought until they found a position only the three of them could find comfortable... Yanagi was sure he could see Marui's leg had somehow ended up behind Niou, even though his other leg was sprawled over Kirihara, who was in turn half off the bed, and half clutching onto Niou as if it was for dear life.

And sometimes Yanagi wondered if it was. The relationship the three had was a strange one indeed... but Yanagi knew both Marui and Kirihara were scared of losing their trickster to his gentleman partner.

"So he hasn't called?" Marui was the first to ask, blowing another bubble. (How he hadn't lost his bubblegum in the scuffle was beyond Yanagi.)

"No. He should be contemplating whether or not to contact me by now, and when he's done that, he'll decide which is the best way, and THEN he'll ring."

"That's creepy, sempai... Come lay with us while you wait."

The other two bed inhabitants nodded their aggrement to the idea, but Yanagi didn't feel like complying. Not today. He felt like an outsider today, which didn't normally happen. Yukimura Seiichi's tennis coaching was just so that everyone was made to feel close to everyone, they were all like brothers in a way, which was why Niou, Marui and Kirihara's relationship was not questioned, just thrown off as another part of that brother-hood. Yukimura and Sanada Genichirou sometimes invited Yanagi to stay the night with them, since they knew he was lonely.

But it did seem that brother-hood was falling apart. It wasn't only Yanagi who sought outside affection anymore... Jackal, the only straight one on their team, had found himsef a girl, which they all knew was coming. His uncomfortable-ness with their constant closeness would mean they would soon lose him... His girlfriend would become jealous, and even if he chose the team first, there would always be another girl. It was the reason why Yukimura was so encouraging about inter-team relationships. Outside relationships made things difficult.

But the feud between Niou's two lovers and his partner, Yagyuu Hiroshi was getting long-winded, and Yanagi knew eventually that Niou would have to choose. And the ending result would not be fun.

And that lead to the matter at hand. If his plan was accomplished... He too would be dating an outside source... and then he felt he was screwed.

He nearlly jumped as his phone rang.

"Hello?" he asked, not needing to know who it was...

"Why did you do it?" the sharp voice came from the other end, in the exact tone Yanagi had expected.

"It was for both of our own good."

"I thought your captain didn't approve of your feelings for me. And what would your kouhai think?"

"Akaya?" Yanagi couldn't help but smirk, he'd known about Inui's jealousy of Kirihara for a while, since Inui expected that Kirihara meant the same to him as Kaido meant to Inui.

How wrong he was.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

A/N: There it is, and that's all I'm going to write tonight. I'm sorry about spelling errors and such...


End file.
